The Book and Paper Group (BPG) is the largest of the specialty groups within the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). The purpose of the BPG is to exchange information through meetings and publications about the conservation of books and paper materials. Its members represent a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties but share a common interest in the preservation and conservation of artifacts and collections of paper-based materials.

Annual Meeting Programming

A main activity of the group is the BPG program at the AIC annual meeting. The program is usually a full day or more of papers, panel discussions, and special sessions, as well as a business meeting and social events. BPG discussion groups are forums at the annual meeting for exchanging focused experiences and ideas on areas of specific expertise such as books and libraries (Library Collections Conservation Discussion Group), archives (Archives Conservation Discussion Group), as well as art on paper and museums (Art on Paper Discussion Group) through open dialogues, practical hands-on experiences, and round-table discussions. Two of three discussion groups are held per year at the annual meeting on a rotating schedule.

Book & Paper Listserv

Specialty groups maintain listservs, which are valuable forums where colleagues with similar interests and experience can share and exchange ideas and practical information, facilitate open discussion, disseminate group-related news, questions, job postings, announcements, comments of interest, and general information. Listservs are closed lists. Subscription to them is a benefit of membership in the specialty group. All new members of the group are automatically subscribed to the list. To unsubscribe, contact the listserv moderator. All messages are archived and are searchable.

BPG Publications

The BPG publishes the Book and Paper Group Annual, a nonjuried postprint publication that includes the abstracts and fully-developed papers based on presentations from each annual meeting and other independent submissions. Another BPG publication is the Book and Paper Group Wiki, a forum for members and conservation practitioners to learn about topics in book and paper conservation and share their expertise and emerging trends in the field with colleagues. The BPG Wiki evolved from the Paper Conservation Catalog (PCC), an outline of practices and procedures used by paper conservators published from 1984–1994. Like all wikis, the site's contents are collaborative and dynamic works-in-progress.